EF4

Palm Beach Gardens, FL (USA Today - 7/16/18) "The mysterious death of a Florida man has been solved, police say, after piecing together an elaborate suicide plot that included a weather balloon hoisting a gun into the sky. Palm Beach Gardens police began investigating the death of Alan Jay Abrahamson as a homicide."

"An email found on Abrahamson's phone suggested he bought a weather balloon on Christmas day of last year. A purchase none of his friends could explain. He didn't have an interest in aerial photographer or meteorology. He also purchased helium tanks. In February, police entertained the idea that Abrahamson's death might have been a suicide. The working theory became: He tied a gun to a string, attached it to the weather balloon, and once the shot was fired, the balloon carried the weapon away from the scene."

"Investigators dug deep to find any evidence of a case like this in the past. What they found: A "CSI Las Vegas" episode from 2003 showing a character who staged a homicide by tying a gun to helium-filled balloons, and the weapon was carried from the scene. Also, a 2008 death in New Mexico appeared to recreate this, but the helium balloons attached to the handle of the gun had become tangled on nearby cactus after the shot was fired. "